One of the hardest and most stressful parts about choosing gravestones or memorials for someone is what they should say.  There are the basics such as their name, date of birth and death but often people want to include something more, something that speaks about the person and who they were.  To help you find the right idea of what to have on your loved one’s memorial art, here are some ideas used by monumental masons.

1. Don’t feel rushed

When you work with companies who are used to creating memorial art & renovations, the first thing they will tell you is not to feel rushed.  Don’t feel you have to come up with something immediately when talking to them about the gravestone – they will let you know when they need the details by.

2. Let one person make the decision

If there are a few people involved with arranging the funeral, then have one person handle the gravestone and the inscription.  Sure, they might run it past the rest of the family, but everyone can’t make their own choice, there needs to be just one person in charge.

3. Don’t feel you have to go with tradition

If you look around the headstones Poole cemeteries contain, you will quickly see lots of ‘In loving memory’ and while this is nice, there are lots of alternatives and you don’t need to feel you have to use traditional wording.  A modern alternative is something like ‘remembered with love’ or even a small picture carving

4. Go with something timeless

 People often choose lines of poetry or Bible verses with the aim of standing the test of time.  Something like ‘beloved mother, sister and grandmother’ might be relevant now but will it still be relevant in 20 years’ time? 

5. Don’t just list attributes

The urge to keep things simple doesn’t mean you need to list a person’s attributes or achievements, you can form them into short sentences that can be carved into the gravestone.  Memorial art comes in forms where you can have quite a bit of room, so you can go beyond a list of one or two-word summaries.

6. Go timeless with the letterform

Letterform on headstones is a bit different to fonts on the internet and that’s why classic, timeless styles are most often used.  You don’t have to know about these as the memorial company you are working with will be able to advise you.  There are no rules as such, but people usually choose something that will still look smart and will be legible a number of years in the future.

7. Make use of expert opinions

Don’t feel you have to come up with everything yourself – let expert opinions help and guide you.  Working with an experience monumental mason means you can access their experience and opinions and use them to help finalise the inscriptions.  Theirs is both a practical experience based on what they have created and an inspirational one from the many headstones they have created.